Remove Ants from the Home

Ants are one of my least favorite insects. Their sheer numbers can be daunting, especially when those numbers show up in your kitchen. But there are some strategies to remove ants in your home.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: Varies

Here's How:

Keep things clean and dry.

Many ants wander into our homes searching for food and water. Scouter ants will find what they think is a good source of food or water and mark a trail for other ants in the colony to follow back to the source. Don't roll out the welcome mat by leaving food and water out for them to find.

Clean the trail.

If scout ants have left a hidden trail for the other ants to follow, you'll want to wash it away. Mild dish soap or your regular cleaners will work effectively to wash away any trace of a trail.

Take out the colony.

Hire a professional or try a commercial product to poison the colony. It may sound harsh, but ants are some of the most tenacious home pests out there. Just killing the workers who come to search for food in your home, isn't going to solve the problem. But leaving a bait trap that lures ants to take poisoned food back to the queen and baby ants will wipe out the entire ant city. And that's the goal. Try a few different types of bait traps, or hire a professional to get rid of your ant problem.

Tips:

There are many home remedies that ants don't like, but they don't kill off the colony. Ants don't like Borax, chili powder, cinnamon, vinegar, and many other household substances, but often they'll just find a way around these things.